Sir Paul Speaks … and the WWF Listens!

In a radical departure from its usual diehard support for animal-testing, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is now pushing alongside PETA for fundamental changes to what threatens to be the largest animal-testing program in U.S. history. The WWF’s announcement comes hot on the heels of a second letter from former Beatle and longtime PETA supporter Sir Paul McCartney, urging the WWF to undo some of the harm that it caused by campaigning for and supporting the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP). This WWF-backed program aims to retest chemicals for supposed “gender-bending” hormonal effects and could lead to the deaths of tens of millions of wild and domestic animals in crude and cruel chemical-poisoning tests.

In response to Sir Paul’s latest letter, the WWF has gone public with the following statements:

• “WWF urges EPA to rely to the fullest extent possible on validated non-animal screens and tests. … Where such tests are not yet available, WWF believes EPA ought to invest in their development as a matter of priority, and that Congress should increase funding to speed this important transition.”

• “[W]e believe the figure of 87,000 chemicals listed recently on EPA’s website vastly overstates the desirable or likely scope of the EDSP. Instead, we think the program should focus on a sharply reduced number of chemicals that could be on the order of 1-2 percent of that figure [i.e., less than 2,000 chemicals in total].”

• “WWF believes a number of chemicals have been shown to be sufficiently harmful to warrant imposing bans or severe restrictions on their use now, without need for further tests.”

Sir Paul has also asked the WWF to back PETA’s call to drop animal tests from the EPA’s endocrine program, to match PETA’s $400,000 investment in the development of non-animal test methods, and to issue a statement of assurance that it will withdraw its support for animal testing.

Click here to read Sir Paul’s letter to the WWF.